The death of NBA legend basketball player Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna shook the whole world. On January 26, 2020, the helicopter with 9 people in it crashed, and it was revealed that Bryant and his little daughter were among the dead. While the terrible accident was widely covered in the world press for a long time, it was determined that the photos of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, who died horribly, were leaked.
Because of the photos in question, Vanessa Bryant filed a multi-million dollar confidentiality lawsuit against the LA County Sheriff’s Department. She claimed she suffered ‘severe emotional distress’ and became ‘physically ill’ due to images of her deceased husband and daughter. Vanessa, who mourned, suggested that the officers took the photos “for their own personal pleasure”, not for research purposes.
BARMAN SHOCKED TO SEE THE PHOTO OF KOBE BRYANT’S BODY
Vanessa’s lawyer, Luis Li, gave a dramatic opening speech to the 10-member jury at the courthouse, explaining how law enforcement officers abused the accident by snapping and posting pictures of Kobe and Gianna as souvenirs. Li began his speech by sharing footage of the deputy sheriff sitting at a bar. In the video, the officer is seen holding his cell phone to show the bartender something, while the person answering the phone is allegedly shocked by the gruesome sight of Kobe’s body and walks away.
“PHOTOS OF BURNED MEAT, LIMBS…”
The lawyer described how deputies and firefighters navigated around the wreckage and took pictures of the bodies dismembered in the helicopter crash. “They took pictures of burnt meat, decapitated people, limbs. It’s something that shakes their consciences,” said Li, saying that the victims of the accident were seen as ‘meat heaps’ and played a recording of a detective who claimed that his wife refused to look at the photos.
“IN THE BAR, HE DID IT TO IMPRESS THE WOMAN”
It was also alleged that an officer used photos of the victims to ‘try to impress a woman in a bar and brag about being at the scene of the accident’:
“The employees exploited the accident. They took and shared photos of Kobe and Gianna as a memento. They poured salt on a non-healing wound.”
“PHOTOS NEVER LEAKED”
A Los Angeles County attorney argued that Vanessa’s privacy breach lawsuit had no legal value. Los Angeles County attorney J. Mira Hashmall said the photos were not leaked to the public:
“It is undisputed that the photographs complained of were never made available in the media, on the Internet, or otherwise made public. Plaintiff Vanessa Bryant never saw photos of her family members.”
Plaintiff alleges that Gianna and Kobe’s remains were dispersed in at least 28 sheriff’s department devices and by at least a dozen firefighters.
LEGALLY PROHIBITED
Under California law, it’s a crime for first responders to take photos of people who died at the scene of an accident or crime without permission. $2.5 million compensation was paid to settle a similar lawsuit filed by two families who had previously died in the same accident.
Vanessa Bryant did not compromise because she wanted more than this compensation. When Los Angeles County requested a psychiatric evaluation to determine if Vanessa was experiencing emotional distress from the photos, her lawyers interpreted the attitude as bullying. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department described Vanessa’s case as a ‘money grab’.
Vanessa also filed a lawsuit against the helicopter rental company and the deceased pilot.
